Untitled
by Method 2 the Madness
Summary: This takes place right before the two ships would have colided in bk 54. ch.7 is up.
1. Ram the Blade Ship Prologue

**Prologue**

"Ram the Blade ship." It wasn't a valiant act in the name of all that was good, although, if the media found out, that's probably what they'd say. It was desperation. Marco knew it, Tobias knew it, and he knew it. He was only sorry that three extra people would lose their lives. He was only sorry that Cassie would have no clue, and that she would finally come to the conclusion, and accept the fact that she was the last living Animorph.

Twenty-five feet…fourteen feet…time seemed to stand still…he looked over in Tobias's direction, opening his mouth to apologize for everything that he'd put him through…and stared into the confused eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy.

"Tobias?" All of a sudden, something much weirder than seeing Tobias's human self happened. He started to age. His hair grew longer- hair that hadn't even _been_ there appeared and grew longer- he had a beard now.  Jake found that he had to lift his eyes because Tobias had gotten taller. It was like a freakish version of morphing…and that was saying something. His face shifted slightly, and then, Jake was no longer looking at a boy, but a full grown man.

The two of them stood frozen, speechless, looking at one another. Jake didn't know what to say. Marco did.

"No fair! How come he gets to skip puberty?"

**Review and I'll post the first chapter…you know you want to know what happens next…**


	2. Untitled Chapter One

**Chapter 1**

            I had no idea what was happening. One minute, I was preparing to die- to be with Rachel again- and the next, I was morphing uncontrollably, and things started changing that definitely shouldn't have. The five of them were all staring at me, I guess waiting for me to explain. I just shrugged my shoulders. That felt weird. Not because I had just had some super growth spurt, but because that last time I made any type of expression with my face or body was longer then the last time I'd morphed human.

            "Oh man, what the…I mean…this is insane!" Jake tore his eyes away from me and looked at Marco.

            "Yeah, definitely on my top ten list of weird stu-" He stopped in mid sentence. "Something's wrong here."

            "Yeah Jake, Tobias just-"

"Marco shut up for second will you?"

            "Well if that's how-" Jeanne put her hand over his mouth and turned him to the view screen. Menderash pushed a button, and we were now looking at the outside of the Blade ship instead of the inside. We were looking at the Blade ship that we should have hit about ninety seconds ago. 

Santorelli walked closer to the window, his eyes wide with disbelief. Jake started pacing back forth, a habit of his that was now familiar to me. Then, he started rambling.

"Do you think…? I mean if it is one of them…no, it can't be him, why would _he stop us from potentially dying? But then what reason does-"_

"Jake!" Marco had wriggled himself free from Jeanne's grasp, (of course not before making a comment about how she wanted to get close to him) and grabbed Jake by the arm.

"Will you calm down for a minute man? Think about it. Would either one of them do something like this and not immediately show up to take credit for it? I mean especially if we were going to die when we hit the Blade ship?"

Jeanne and Santorelli exchanged looks; they had no idea about the Ellimist or Crayak. "I guess you're right…but then…how?"

"Captain, I think I can answer your question." Now all eyes were on Mederesh. "I believe the momentum of our ship and the mass of both ships has activated an "air pocket" in space."

Jake had this blank look on his face. "Meaning…"

"Meaning anything within 10,000 square feet of either of our ships will not be able to move." Menderash sighed. I think having to explain everything for the past half a year or so, was beginning to take its toll on him.

"Okay," Marco said, "We've been blasted back in time before by an explosion, and that's called a Sario Rip…so what is this called?"

"…an air pocket…" 

"Was that sarcasm Menderash?"

"No."

"Really? Hmm…interesting…"

            "What is, Marco?"

            "I don't think you have a name for this one, do you?"

            "I told you already."

            "Oh, come on, an air pocket? I don't think you know what's happing, do you Menderash?" 

            "Of course I do."

            "No you don't."

            "Yes I do."

            "No you don't."

            "Yes I do."

"No you-"

            "Marco, Menderash, Stop!"

            "Menderash, do you or do you not know why we stopped less than a foot from hitting the Blade Ship?" I could Jake's Jaw start to tense up. Menderash said nothing. "You mean just made that up?" His voice started to get really quiet.

            "Captain, there is something I left out when I was telling you about Prince Aximili before we went on this mission." Jake raised an eyebrow. "After they captured my prince, before we pulled the Intrepid away, we couldn't move…it was as though we were suspended in some sort of force field…I'm sorry I didn't tell you before it was just that..." He trailed off, and turned away, leaving his sentence unfinished.  

**Jake's POV:**

**            I didn't exactly know what to say to that. Everything right now was a just a big swirling ball of confusion. Tobias was standing there in biker shorts and a T-shirt that were already tight, made tighter by his sudden change. The only other time I'd ever come close to something like that was when I found myself ten years in the future. And, now were stuck in the middle of space with an enemy that I knew absolutely nothing about. I felt helpless, I feeling I definitely did not like. Menderash didn't even know what was going on. I was about to get Tobias some new clothes, when a voice- somewhere between thought speak and actual sound- rang through my head.**

"I can feel your mind Jake…"

**Well, that was chapter one people; I figured four days was enough time to let some reviews come in. I'm halfway through chapter two, but I don't know how soon I'll be finished. It might take me a week at least, what with school and all, and to answer a question (I don't know who it was from because I'm not online right now) I don't think it will be a comedy because I'm not good at jokes, but if I think of  something halfway funny, I'll put it in. Until next time…******

                                                            Method 2 the Madness


	3. I Feel Your Mind Chapter Two

**Chapter 2 (It might be a bit confusing at first, but keep reading)**

**Jake's POV:**

I was covered in blood. Burgundy colored blood that caked in between my fingers and around the edges of my finger nails. Rachel and Tom's dead bodies lay before me. I cried for them, my tears were blood.

            "You killed them Jake, they're dead because of you." I turned to face the voice, the voice that belonged to The One. "They died because of you Jake."

            "I know." Images of the Auxiliary Animorphs flashed before my eyes.

            "You failed them Jake."

            "I know."

            "Jara Hamee, 17000 frozen Yeerks, and how many other _casualties_ of war? All you Jake, all at your hand, all at your command."

            "I know…but how do you know?" Laughter rang around me, through me. It was almost as if I was laughing.

            "I can feel your mind Jake."

            "I-I know." It scared me, the way it came. The One was tapped into every nerve, it- not her or she because The One was a step beyond all that- could feel every wave of electricity my brain gave off. More laughter…it began to go down a list.

            "Marco. He's sort of a 'poor little rich boy' now, isn't he? His parents are married again, happy as ever. He has over nine million dollars, and almost any girl would give their left arm for a date with him. A shame too, because regardless of what he says, or has tricked himself into thinking, at least one third of those dates with all those beautiful girls have really been lonely nights in his mansion and all of it means nothing without a best friend to share it with.

            It waited, feeling its way through my mind, searching for a reaction. "No response… hmm…what about Tobias? Have you any inkling of his life before he met the five of you?" "He was shuffled between his aunt and uncle, each relative as horrible as the other. His aunt treated him more like a slave than a nephew…forcing him to clean the house top-to-bottom, barely feeding him. His drunken uncle loved slapping him around, and if the bruised ribs, black eye, and internal bleeding didn't come from home, they came from school. All of those things made him another statistic, another number, another abused kid. You helped him out didn't you Jake? You gave him a little to hold onto, and all it took was one crazy mission to rip it all away. That's the story off each and every moment in his life.

            "He's got his mom" I said weakly. I could feel The One's anticipation, I was starting to crack and it knew it. I had been taking hits for a long time, and even the strongest of walls could only take so much.

            "Yes…he does, doesn't he? And yet, she doesn't even remember him...story of his life." I expected The One to be smug, but there was no emotion. "Last, but oh no…definitely not least…Cassie." I expected it to go on, but it said nothing. Instead it used my memories against me. The feeling of her lips upon mine…our first kiss. That had the effect on me that no words ever could. I fell to my knees, and felt myself being pulled out of my body, and slowly into its. Then I sensed something…something that hadn't been there before…I felt other minds. Immediately I knew something had happened that wasn't part of the plan….

            I was yanked back into my body, back into reality. The last thing I saw was a wall of coarse, blood soaked, black fur. And then I passed out.

**(This is what happened while Jake and The One were talking)**

**Marco's POV:**  

Jakes eyes rolled into the back of his head. It was so quiet that I heard the sweat on my hands drip to the floor. "Professor?" Santorelli sounded more like a ten-year-old boy than a twenty-five year old man. I glanced over at Jeanne. The look on her face was pure horror for a moment before her government training took over and her facial expression was neutral again. I exchanged looks with Tobias, or at least I did until I realized he wasn't looking at me.

"MARCO!" Had Menderash's voice reached me any later, I would have been dead. I slammed sideways into Jake, and we hit the wall. The chair that had been a foot and a half in front of me burst into flames. I forced myself not to focus on the whites of Jakes eyes as muscle built on top of muscle. Good to see you again Big Jim.

**Hey! I forgot the disclaimer! But you didn't really think I owned the Animorphs did you? Well, I don't…anyway that was the second chapter…It really didn't take me as long as I said it would, about a day after I posted the first chapter, my brain was kicked into hyper drive. I just didn't have the time to type it up. I'm working on a battle scene right now, that'll probably go anywhere from a quarter to a half a chapter. I probably be a week with the next chapter, I need to figure out how to lead up to the idea I have.**

**UKHoneyB…Kaz456 turn to page 154 of book number 54 and look to the bottom…there's the voice…straight from the book…genius isn't it? I know, I know real original…but UKHoneyB did stumble on to a little something (fortunately hardly all there is to the story)…just bear with me for a few chapters…there's definitely a…**

**-Method 2 the Madness**


	4. In Medias Res Chapter Three

**Chapter 3**

**Tobias's POV:**

I breathed a sigh of relief as the alligator-like skin crawled up my arm. For a brief moment I was afraid I wouldn't be able to morph. Marco was already three fourths done morphing Big Jim, Santorelli was slowly morphing what I was guessing was a lynx, and Jeanne was morphing…well…I couldn't really tell what it was, but she was definitely getting big.

            Our attackers wasted no time waiting for us to finish. Two of them began to smash and break things, and the other two advanced toward us wielding what seemed to be mutated versions of dracon beams. I flexed the muscles in my arms- _Ket__ Halpak's_ arms, and leaned on my left foot, then my right. _Oh yeah, it's definitely good to be back…_

I couldn't help but think that this is what Rachel felt every time we went head-to-head with the yeerks, and to tell you the truth, the feeling wasn't half bad. Adrenaline was surging through my body…and it felt great.

            _Eeeny__…meany…miney…moe…_I locked my vision on the one to the far right, bent my knees, and sprung off my toes. The guy had a look of surprise on his face that turned into grin. He seemed confident, and I barely had time to wonder why he would be with the odds generally in our favor before he melted.__

**Marco's POV:**

            _"Okay, so there I was morphing Big Jim, keeping my incapacitated friend out of harm's way while watching Tobias trying to pull some Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon move on this gray-haired, mean looking dude. Well, I guess that isn't exactly a very good description for the guy. I mean, three out of the four were men and they all had gray hair with sour expressions.  Actually it was pretty funny…like…revenge of the senior citizens or something."_

            I imagined Dave chuckling at my joke. I imagined hot chicks in bikinis mentioning how funny I was that night, while sitting in my Jacuzzi. I imagined being anyplace but here. I don't know why I agreed to this…I had the perfect life back on Earth, and I left it to go star-hoping with two army stiffs, a heart-broken chicken, my estranged best friend, and an egghead Andalite trapped in a human body.

            _"And Dave, man, this is the proverbial icing on the cake…they melted!"_

            _"You mean like a wicked witch kind of thing?"_

_            "No, I mean, they turned into silver puddles of goo. It was freaky man! Tobias crashed into one of the computer consuls. Jeanne and Santorelli had morphed a grizzle bear and lynx and were kicking the other man and woman's butts…or at least they thought they were, but in the end they just got tired. The man and woman didn't have a scratch!"_

            I glanced back at Jake, shuddering at they way his eyes were moving side to side with the whites still showing. I started to move to the center of the floor to help, but as soon as I got there, the four gray-haired people disappeared.

            _"We all stood around looking at each other, and then I heard a groaning noise behind me. I turned around and saw Jake standing up, his pupils were dilated. He took a couple of steps toward me, and then passed out again." _

**Sorry for the wait…life's been crazy…the important thing is, I'm back…sorry to leave you hanging. Next chapter will be up by next week or sooner, promise.**


	5. The Living Dead Chapter Four

**Chapter 4**

**Tom's POV:**

I braced myself for another blow, curling up in the fetal position after she'd knocked me to the ground.

"Okay, I'm only going to ask you this one more time: what did he change the password to?" Her voice was quiet.

The "he" my interrogator was referring to was Essak 2041275, my newest yeerk.

"I'm not playing games Tom! I _will _kill you! " I remained silent, secretly hoping that it wasn't just an empty threat this time. A sizzling sound echoed off the walls, and I stuck my head out from under my arm to see what it was.

She laughed. "Curious are we? Do you know what this is Tom, hmm?" She seemed to be waiting for an answer so I shook my head.

"It's an elephant prod Tom. There's a piece on the end that delivers a mild but sufficient shock to get the animal moving. Of course, an elephant has layers of thick skin…"

Without warning, a surge went through my body that felt like a million little knives stabbing me over and over again…then it stopped.

"We'll talk again later."

* * *

For a year and half I'd undergone this same routine of torture, and at first I held out, praying someone would find me, and wishing that the last thing that I'd said to my parents before I walked out the house seven years ago was I love you. _Oh well._

I stayed that way for what must have been hours; it took a lot of energy just to breathe, let alone sit up. A sliver of light sliced through the darkness and a clinking sound on the floor signaled that my dinner had arrived.

I willed the blood to re-circulate through my arms and legs as I crawled across the room to the foul-smelling, nearly rotted raw fish that they always gave me. Normally I wouldn't even touch sushi which at least had some flavor to it, but it was either this or starving to death-though I was beginning to think that option wasn't such a bad idea.

_God, what did I do to deserve this?_ Yes, I know, I was hypocrite. My parents tried to force feed religion down my throat for years; back then I couldn't care less. It's amazing how quickly a person changes given the right motivation.

**Yes, I know it's short and I know I'm a liar…don't shoot me…next chapter: Tom's Flashback (details on where he's at, etc.) Oh and those of you die-hard fans might recognize that yeerk name.**


	6. Flashback Chapter Five

**Chapter 5**

**Tom's POV:**

FLASHBACK

_Huh? What's happening? Am I dead? _My whole body was numb and I couldn't focus my eyes. _I must be dead…I…I…remember dying…no, wait…_

_**Will you shut up already?**_

_Huh?_

**_I said shut up! I'm trying to get control of your eyes again. You know how this works by now Tom._**

_Oh…you…_

_**Yes…now stop thinking so loud.**_

_Well maybe if you weren't in my head- where are we anyway?_

**_I don't know. _**Suddenly fragments of an object in front of me started piecing themselves together. It looked like a chair but something was off about it.

_**Oops…sorry.**_

_What?_

**_It's Upside down._**

_Oh, I knew something was wrong._

"Finally awake are we? Pick yourself up off the floor- we have business to discuss my…friend."

It usually took him a while reorient himself when he'd enter my head after a trip to the pool, but it was weird that it was taking him so long now. I heard laughter as we wobbled towards the metal folding chair. I could tell something was up.

He sat us straight up in the chair and locked our eyes on the woman in front of us. His feelings spilled over into me, and for a moment I could "see" all of his memories. It felt weird, just as it had all those nights when we couldn't sleep and he'd let his guard down while we had conversations. There was a definite fear of this woman and…and something else, but he shut me out before I could make sense of it.

"So this is what your new host looks like up close."

He cleared his-our…_my _throat. "Yes. I took the place of Temrash 114 before his promotion and unfortunate demise."

"What was unfortunate about it? You would swear he was a Visser the way he carried himself…he was as arrogant as an Andalite, as a matter of fact, twice that much. Those so-called 'Andalite bandits' were useful for something."

"What did they have to do with it?" She laughed.

"You'll have to excuse me; I forgot how long it's been."

"What are you talking about?"

"How've you been? Really, I want to know."

"Why are you changing the subject?"

She sighed. "You have so many questions…I wish there was time to answer them all…I would enjoy it...oh well."

On key, two beefy looking guys in all black and a woman dressed in old army fatigues burst in the room.

**Three Days Later…**

"Well, he's dead. How do you feel?"

The four of them- the two men and two women had been keeping watch in six-hour shifts for the past three days. The yeerk was silent the whole time, he didn't bother to talk to me, and when one of the four walked in he'd just turn our-_my_ head away and stare at the wall. Not that there was anything interesting about that wall or the rest of the room for that matter.

It was small and empty, with no furniture except for the two folding chairs that faced each other. The floor, ceiling and walls were all made of steel (or something close to it) and there was a door with only one handle-on the other side.

"I feel alone."

"Interesting choice of words." I was talking to the same woman from before. I'd recently learned her host name was Olivia. "Very interesting." She leaned forward in the chair. I took that as a sign that she wanted me to continue.

"He was in my head for…almost three years…yeah, that's about right. I feel…stupid because I can barely control my own body…I have to remember to move my lips when I talk! What? Do you want a 'thank you' or something?" She laughed.

I remembered when I'd spent the weekend over my aunt and uncle's house with Jake. They'd gotten into an argument and Aunt Naomi looked like she was going to kill Uncle Dan when he started laughing while she was yelling.

Now I know why.

"Well I have good news for you Thomas…you won't have to feel like that for too much longer." She got up kneeled down in front of my chair. I couldn't see what she was doing, but before I had a chance to question her, the walls around me shimmered and disappeared. "These things are very useful you know."

"That was a hologram?"

"Yes, an outdated one, but good enough to serve our purpose. That last thing we needed was Temrash getting into our business…right?" She looked over at the three people who'd kept watch the last three days. They nodded simultaneously, and then the one in the middle walked over to where we were she had her hands behind her back, but I didn't need three guesses to figure out what she was holding.

**Tom's POV:**

**Present**

"He's not talking. Let him out." A bright white light burned into my retinas. Strong arms with calloused hands dragged me out of the room. I had gotten so thin that the hands wrapped all the way around my forearms.

Something pinched my neck and the white light turned to black.

**Hey! I'm back! Sorry for the wait. That was the complete version of chapter five. I was going to make it longer, but after writing it I realized that there's a lot of stuff to cover (plus some things I want to add) and I didn't want the story to get too slow, so I decided to split it into three parts.**

**- M2TM**

**Next: chapter 6 (Cassie's POV), chapter 7 (Tom's POV - in the present)**


	7. Meanwhile dot dot dot Chapter Six

**Chapter 6**

**Cassie's POV:**

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Positive," I sighed.

"I don't mean to bug you it's just-"

"Then don't."

"Cass, you've been working all week. I think it's time you took a break."

"I'll take a break when I'm finished."

"This isn't healthy, you know…"

I tuned him out and went back to focusing on my work. I was scheduled to give a speech two days from now at the Anaheim convention center…_if he would just shut-_

"Cass? Did you hear me?"

"Uh…um…no Ronnie…just give me a…"  
"That's it. I'm treating you to lunch, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

The computer screen went blank. "Ronnie!"

"…I love it when you say my name like that."

I looked over at him. He was holding the power strip cord and grinning.

"What is wrong with you? How am I supposed to convince people that Hork Bajir _aren't_ demons from hell sent to destroy the Earth if you keep interrupting me?"

"Cass, calm down, it's not that bad."

"What do you mean not that bad? The protesters…the bomb scares…you're right Ronnie it's not that bad, it's worse."

"You've been at this for the past nine months. I understand what you're doing is important, but I see less of you than I did when we were just working together. And now that we're living together…I just… I remember when you weren't so uptight."

"And I remember when you used to care about your job."

"I do care about my job…and…"

"…and?"

"And I care about you." I rolled my eyes.

"If you cared about me you wouldn't have destroyed a week's worth of work."

"Didn't they teach you to save every five minutes in school?"

"…I must have missed that lesson while I was out saving the human race."

"Ha-ha"

"This is not funny…"

"Relax; the word processor has auto recovery."

"Which means…?"

"Which means exactly what it says... you don't know much about computers do you?"

I sighed. "Fine you win. Now where are we going to eat, Burger King or McDonalds?"

"Cass…don't play with me."

"I'm not, I happen to like fast food."

"We're going to eat _real_ food."

"McDonalds is real food."

"McDonalds is a heart attack in a paper bag! Since when did you start becoming so unhealthy? You haven't eaten anything that wasn't soaked in grease for the past week and a half! I think we should start running together in the mornings like we used to."

"What are you trying to say…?" I frowned at him. He sidestepped the 'do you think I'm fat issue' by sifting through the pile of mail in his hand and pulling out a flyer.

"This was on the screen door; I think it's a menu to that new Jamaican place on the parkway. We should check it out!" He was trying to sound enthusiastic but made a high-pitched squeaking instead.

"Are you sure I shouldn't just have a _salad _instead?"

"Cass, you know I didn't mean-"

"- Uh huh. Look, I really have to finish this. How about you treat me to dinner instead?"

"Ok. Here, let me plug this back in."

"Sweetie?"

"Hmm?"

"If anything happened to my file because of that little stunt you pulled, I'll kill you." He laughed.

"Sweetie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm serious. I _will_ kill you."


	8. Untitled Chapter Seven

**Chapter7:**

**Tom's POV:**

**Present**

I woke up to find myself lying in total darkness on what seemed to be a bare mattress, with the side of my face smashed against a pillow. One arm was at my side and the other was twisted in an awkward and painful position; smashed between my stomach and the bed. One leg lay flat, bent at the knee, and the other was dangling over the side of the bed. The tip of my big toe was touching the metal floor- it was as if someone threw me there like a sack of potatoes.

Rolling onto my back put my limbs in a comfortable arrangement and allowed me to focus on more important matters. Like where I was. Or why I was naked. After weighing my options and deciding that, given current state of things, I didn't really have any, I got up to explore. I took small steps and carefully felt my way to the nearest wall. It wasn't cold in the room but I could feel the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The situation reminded me of that Edgar Alan Poe story where the guy's walking around in some dungeon trying to figure out how big the room is. He eats some bread or something and passes out. When he wakes up, he's tied down face-up and is about to be sliced in half by a pendulum swinging overhead.

I'd heard that story long before we'd read it in my tenth grade class-it was my mother's idea of a bedtime story for a four-year-old.

When I was about halfway around the room I started to worry because I hadn't found an exit yet. _What if this is another one of her sick, twisted plans to get me to talk?_ _I_ _don't have the information they want!_ I moved faster but still kept one hand on the wall. _I can't suffer through anymore torture sessions… I_- I stubbed my toe. Then I lost my balance and slammed face-first into the wall directly in front of me. _Ahh!_ Blood trickled down my nose.The room flooded with light.

**Flashback:**

The woman in fatigues walked over and held the slug up to my ear. The yeerk began to secrete its naturally made anesthetic, and then it squirmed its way inside of me. It wasn't as terrible as the first six times, and it wasn't as gross as the first six hundred times after that.

The yeerk flattened itself and squeezed into all the cracks and crevices in my brain. This wasn't a new experience for the yeerk either; instead of marveling at sight and sound, it took pleasure in sifting through my memories.

_So what do you prefer, shall I think of you as "he" or a "she"? _Past birthdays flew across my mind like a tape on fast-forward. I relived my last days as a free human being. I felt the awful sense of dread from when I initially realized that I was no longer in control of my body. Next, the yeerk replayed my memories from the last three days. It also went through the memories that my old yeerk had left behind after he went through the fugue.

_Fine, ignore me then_.

**I'd prefer you not think of me at all. **

_That's going to be difficult considering you're wrapped around my brain._ I decided think of it as a "he", and that was the first and last conversation that _he _and I had.

**Present:**

After wiping the blood from my nose (which I was pretty sure was broken) I looked up at the panel of switches that I had just run into. There were five total; one was pushed in. I pushed it and the lights went off. I pushed it in again and they came back on. _Hmm…okay…_ I squinted and looked around. There wasn't much to see except for the bare mattress, a metal folding chair with a pile of clothes on it, and a free-standing mirror. I tapped the wall and a metallic sound echoed through the room. _Solid enough…_

**Flashback:**

Months passed and I found myself missing the company of my old yeerk. Yes he was annoying at times, but this was true hell. I tried making conversation the first few weeks, but this yeerk had a one-track mind. He shut me out and kept me quiet by showing me flashbacks of my memories.

_3…2…1…SWISH! The crowd roared. My coach patted me on the back. My teammates lifted me in the air…an eleven-year-old Jake was in the stands, staring at me. I was immortal._

If he couldn't silence me with memories (he never used any bad ones) he would take five minutes or so to answer my questions. I finally learned why it took my old yeerk so long to reorient himself when we first woke up…apparently three years had passed since that day on the Blade Ship.

**Present:**

It had been over seven years since the death of my freedom, more than six since the death of Temrash 114, and three since the end of the war on earth. I had spent over four years in space- three of which I couldn't even remember. It had been over four years since I'd seen my own reflection.

**Flashback:**

A year later, I was still as clueless as I had been when Essak became my new yeerk. Any answers he gave just paved the way for more questions. It's impossible to believe that he kept most of his behavior a secret from me, but he did.

As time went on, I was pushed further and further back into the recesses of my mind. I was surrounded by myself; I lived in a world that consisted entirely of my thoughts and fantasies. The yeerk made my every dream come true.

Until the day I was ripped from my utopia by a blow to the stomach.

I was dazed and confused; there was sharp pain shooting up my back… My body convulsed, I heard a squishing noise, and then there was Olivia's nails-on-a-chalkboard voice screaming for a password.

**Present:**

I moved cautiously towards the mirror, keeping my eyes fixed on the floor. My feet were freezing. My feet were pretty damn ugly.

**A/N:** Thanks for reading, thanks for reviewing...if you did both then you're not as lazy as I am...

**UKHoneyB:** _I _don't even know what you stumbled on b/c I lost the review (my yahoo account timed out).


End file.
